Man Utd could have upper hand in £100million fight thanks to strict transfer rule

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Manchester United may have the upper hand over Manchester City in the race to sign Elliot Anderson this summer. That’s due to City’s well-known transfer rule, whereby the club’s decision-makers refuse to engage in expensive bidding wars, therefore handing their neighbours the initiative.

United ’s recruitment team are expected to move quickly for Anderson when the transfer window opens at the end of this season. That will potentially allow them to negotiate a cheaper deal with Nottingham Forest before his World Cup performances possibly drive his price up even further.

The England midfielder, 23, has been linked with a move to Old Trafford for several months. He is one of a handful of reported midfield targets for United, which also include Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali, Adam Wharton and Carlos Baleba.

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Anderson is under contract at the City Ground until 2029. With Forest being in no rush to sell one of their star players if they survive relegation come May, they could demand a sum of £80million, which may even rise to £100m if there is interest from other clubs.

City, while also keen on pursuing Anderson, have a history of not engaging in bidding wars. As a result, United may come out on top in this instance if they are willing to splurge big money on the talented youngster, which may be the case given they need to replace veteran Casemiro at the base of midfield.

The Etihad club’s reluctance to enter a bidding war has seen them lose out on players to United in the past. Both Manchester clubs wanted to sign a disgruntled Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal in January 2018.

Pep Guardiola tried to bring in the former Barcelona winger but City later admitted they couldn’t match the financial package offered by their rivals, eventually deciding to pull out of the deal. Sanchez joined United in a swap deal that saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan move the opposite way.

In a similar vein, City, who had won the league twice in a row by the summer of 2019, saw United beat them to the signature of Harry Maguire . The Leicester City central defender’s £80m move was and remains the world record fee paid for a defender.

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Guardiola admitted City could not pay such a large fee on Maguire, stating: "He's an excellent, top-class player. We were interested but could not afford it."

Similar patterns have emerged more recently. Chelsea owner Todd Boehly revealed he signed Marc Cucurella for £60m in 2022 because City wanted the then-Brighton full-back. The at-the-time reigning Premier League champions could not afford the Spaniard once Chelsea entered the race.

A year later, City went toe-to-toe with Arsenal for Declan Rice ’s signature. The Gunners eventually signed Rice with a third submitted offer of £105m, with City pulling out at the final hurdle.